𝙴𝚈𝙴𝚂 𝙾𝙵𝙵 𝚈𝙾𝚄

Chapter 18

"I'm home!" Kae shouted as she shut the front door behind her.

She was greeted by an annoyed groan from her older brother, who was sitting at the dining room table. He had his laptop open in front of him, typing away with a grimace on his face.

"Would it kill you to be less noisy when you come in?"

Kae frowned as she set down the bag filled with books she had gotten. "You're always in such a bad mood. What a buzzkill."

Takuro sent her a glare. "In case you forgot, I'm still looking for a job. You being noisy is just pissing me off even more...!"

Kae simply rolled her eyes and sat down across from him. "Listen, Takuro-nii, I have an offer that might just help you."

Takuro arched an eyebrow, not in the mood for any stupid ideas his sister might propose. "Oh, yeah? And what's your oh-so-brilliant idea?"

"Okay," Kae said, pulling out her phone. "I got a notification earlier that a publishing company was taking applications."

"A publishing company?" Takuro questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. "And what exactly are they hiring for?"

A smile tugged at his sister's lips, glad that she had grabbed at least a little of his attention. "Well, brother of mine, they're actually looking for some experts in the design field."

"Design? You do know that I'm not a design student?"

Kae shook her head. "You told me that you took a job as a designer for one of your old friends. That counts!"

Takuro sighed. "Fine, let's say it does count, which it probably doesn't. What sort of job are they offering?"

"Let's see... There are five open positions... Ah, here we go! It says they're looking for BG artists, SFX artists, manga colorists, and cleaners."

Takuro thought for a moment, wondering if any of those jobs were something he would be able to do. He certainly wasn't the best at drawing backgrounds. Maybe SFX... He could do coloring work as well, but...

Hmm... Cleaning sounds the easiest...

"And guess what?" Kae said, her eyes shining brightly. "You'd get to work for one of the most popular mangakas out there!"

"Huh? And who would that be?"

"L/N!!"

As soon as that name flew from Kae's mouth, Takuro's eyes widened. Had he been found out? No, he wasn't going out like this.

"Absolutely not! I refuse to take the offer!"

Kae was taken aback by her brother's sudden change in attitude. It seemed the outcome she had been hoping for was quickly becoming nonexistent.

"Huh? But why?! You were so interested before I mentioned who the author was!"

Takuro shook his head. "I refuse and that's my final answer!"

Kae frowned. "Fine. I guess you'll just have to keep looking for another job! And Eve was offering such good pay, too."

"And just how much would that be?"

At that, Kae smirked internally. It seemed she was able to garner his attention again. She couldn't let this chance slip away again. She had to entice him into applying.

"The base pay rate is $25 an hour plus bonus pay when employees meet their weekly quota. And... They cover the cost of insurance~"

Takuro was shocked to hear about the pay rate. Even his old job didn't pay him nearly as much. "So? What do you think? Pretty good, right?"